We’re one week into the Winter Olympics and the newest Olympic event is already over. Team Figure Skating was one of the first events to premiere last week, and with it came a lot of anticipation. So, what did you think?
For me, it was a little hard to understand at first. What with the 8 different rounds, the subbing skaters in and out, and the ranked scores rather than the traditional, it was a little reminiscent of a competitive reality show you would find on TV. But, it certainly did generate a bit of drama the Olympic Committee was hoping it would.
Why did the IOC decide to add this extra event? According to one article, Olympic skating events typically have the highest ratings draws so there’s a huge incentive to adding TV time for skaters, when normally the prime-time skating events don’t start until a week into the Olympic Games. Also, the Olympic Committee is hoping to modernize the games and broaden their appeal to younger generations and keep up with the latest trends and developments in the sports world.
What’s interesting is that here at BuzzBack, we recently conducted a BuzzPoll on this year’s Winter Olympics and the results support points brought up by the Committee. Figure skating was by far the event that people were most looking forward to watching. However, its popularity steadily declined as the age of those watching declined too, supporting the idea that figure skating is much more popular among boomers than millennials. So was this new event enough to grab their attention? I know it got this millennial to tune in. And if nothing else, at least we got a new meme out of it. Stay tuned for more findings from our Winter Olympics BuzzPoll.
IMAGE: MASHABLE COMPOSITE. AP PHOTO/DARRON CUMMINGS, POOL, AP PHOTO/MARK HUMPHREY
